Every Plot Point that Ruined the Sequel Trilogy | Star Wars Video Essay
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Published 2022-09-19
When beginning a sequel trilogy, character arcs and backstory are even more important than in the original trilogy, because there are no mystery boxes. We know Luke, Han, and Leia; we know the Star Wars characters, we know the arcs they've already taken, and the way JJ approached the story in The Force Awakens created new backstory...that the audience never even saw. In this video let's explore in detail how the poor story choices JJ Abrams made ruined not just a single film, but all future plot points for the entire sequel trilogy.
(This is a combined re-upload of what was originally a 2 part series)
#StarWars #VideoEssay
Sources:
TFA Audience Reviews: www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_episode_vii_the…
Alias article: ew.com/article/2006/04/14/highs-and-lows-alias/
Fringe article: cliqueclack.com/tv/2011/01/22/fringe-was-so-confus…
Fringe article: io9.gizmodo.com/so-now-we-know-what-fringe-was-rea…
Cloverfield Paradox article: www.theverge.com/2018/2/7/16988106/cloverfield-par…
JJ's TED talk about Mystery Boxes (actually very interesting, well worth a watch): • The mystery box | JJ Abrams
Jake Skywalker interview: • He's Not My Luke Skywalker...Maybe He...
TFA writers interview: www.indiewire.com/2015/12/michael-arndt-reveals-re…
Quote about Star Trek: www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/2yrahk/why_do_t…
Lightsaber Credit: Force Storm Academy
• ATARU PHASE 1 - Force Storm Academy #...
Wicked Awesome Jedi/Sith Battle of the Old Republic: • STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™ - 'Dece...
DBZ Power Levels: dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/Thread:541859
Falcon Model: from "Bestgreenscreen" www.greenscreenmovie.com/
JJ Abrams Quote About Chewie: www.businessinsider.com/star-wars-the-force-awaken…
Hero Down by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc…
Artist: incompetech.com/
I Am a Man Who Will Fight for Your Honor by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: chriszabriskie.com/honor/
Artist: chriszabriskie.com/
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All Comments (21)
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This was a re-upload combination of what was a 2-part series. Tried my best to clean up the old audio but at this point it is what it is 😬 Another video essay? "What Happened to Heroes?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1skSYUu1wUY What to see one of my comedy edits? If Anakin Wasn't an Idiot: https://youtu.be/33tRbwGh9Nw
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First and main one - decision to repeat New Hope storyline and therefore undoing all the progress of the original trilogy.
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That scene were Leia ignores Chewie is even worse than what you noted. Because Leia then goes up and hugs REY ... who she has never met before. We know who Leia is; Rey does not. We know who Rey is, Leia does not. It's easily one of the worst scenes in the movie and a good example of how Rey deprotagonizes everyone in the movie.
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At this point, I believe I've spent more time watching documentary essays about all the failures of Disney Star Wars than the actual runtime of Disney Star Wars. 😄
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It seems like the writers confused the Force with the magic from Harry Potter. The lightsaber "calling" Rey has "Elder Wand" written all over it.
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It's crazy that I've been watching critiques of these movies for almost 10 years and I'm still hearing new criticisms.
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JJ wounded Star Wars sequels, Ryan dealt the killing blow. And then JJ returned to teabag it while the corpse was still warm.
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The problem with the mystery box is eventually you have to open it. When the audience does finally open it and it was all a dream. It sucks, because we just wasted all our time in a story that never mattered. If you open the mystery box too late, you have to make up contrived reasons why it's still closed and that makes your characters look stupid.
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I find it hilarious that a small YouTube video can produce better writing than the people Disney hired to make this trilogy
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Another thing that happened between ep 6 &. 7, the Hosnian system became important for some reason. When watching the system get blown up, I was thinking, “who are these people?”
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I find it hilarious, how the entire Sequel Trilogy can be summed up with a quote from Episode 7 itself. "That's not how the Force Works! That's not how any of this eorks!"
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The fake scene where you reimagine Luke’s big reveal is SO awesome despite being as obviously limited as it is. Well done
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It's not just JJ, pretty much ALL modern writers can only write storys with hidden secrets to try and keep you watching AND talking about it.
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Interestingly enough, in legends, there's a food fight in Luke's academy and Luke casually freezes everything in the room, from people to the food in the air.
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The part with Anakin was so well edited. It's a good reminder of how well done his story was compared to Jake Skywalker.
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About R2D2 it's incredible how The Mandalorian made him shine in a few seconds by R2 saying something to Grogu which made him trust Luke and go with him despite his fear of leaving Mando, and the trilogy never did anything with R2 in three whole movies. It's baffling.
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They implied Finn was gonna be a deprogrammed stormtrooper,and he was gonna be the GUY... Even Boyega seemed sidelined with this ...The thought of a stormtrooper snapping,learning the force,becoming a jedi,and dealing with his past of being a trooper...woulda been gold.
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If it is true that everytime Luke appears onscreen, he takes over the show, perhaps a wise filmmaker would make the story fully his in response.
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Something just occurred to me while watching the part about Anakin's fall. In ROS, Palps says only once before has a person been able to use the Force to stop people from dying, and that he and Vader would have to work together to discover the secret. But in Rise of Skywalker, both Rey and Kylo do exactly that by saving each other from death using the Force. That shouldn't have been a thing.
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If they took their time with this, they could’ve made this series quite extensive. They should’ve focused on Luke and Bens relationship and fall first, and Rey should’ve been introduced way later.
